Alex Meets his Younger Self
by snakefloss
Summary: Based on the Tumblr chat post. Alex gets sent to the past for one last look at his old life. Major character death, gore. No shipping. Oneshot. Somewhat headcanon-y, but there's nothing official for this yet.


The clearing was dark and shaded by the trees surrounding it, almost pitch black despite the blazing sun perched high in the sky. Thin cirrus clouds lazily wafted across the blue sky overhead.

A young man with light brown hair was standing in the middle, looking around. He was looking for someone. No one else was nearby, though. Only a thing.

The thing was tall, pale, and featureless, and wore a neat black suit with a red tie. It appeared almost suddenly, although it did not give the feeling of teleportation. It stood motionless among the trees on the edge of the clearing, waiting for the brunette to notice him.

He did notice him, and at this point the appearance of the thing did not surprise him. He was used to it, and it often brought a feeling of relief, because it usually appeared when he was about to be hurt. It had saved him from death more than once, and never failed to clean up after him after he had caused the death of someone else.

_alex_

This time, the young man was surprised. The thing hardly ever talked, and it never spoke his name. The only time it had done that was six years ago, when this all began. Fear filled Alex. He knew that it would not hurt him, but this didn't seem like it would end well. The creature was infinitely dangerous and hostile.

_you are no longer useful_

Alex's mind took a second to process this, and then his stomach flopped. He tensed up, suddenly very afraid. His heart seemed to freeze, and time seemed to stand still. He bit his lip.

"No..." Alex said, his voice quiet and shaking. Suddenly he was not so sure of his safety. He began sweating, and he felt like he would vomit.

"What... what do you mean I'm not u-useful?" he asked, unable to keep the fear from his voice. He began shaking. The five words spoken by the monster were enough for Alex to know what would happen next.

_you know what i mean_

_do you remember our deal?_

_i believe you remember the details_

_i would not kill you and keep you safe_

"And... and I would d-do as you said... until the day when I w-was no longer n-needed." Alex replied slowly, trying to stabilize his voice. He swallowed and clenched his fists.

_until the day when you were no longer useful_

_you have done my work_

_all of your loved ones are dead_

_there is no reason to keep you alive any longer_

_i will find someone new_

Alex's legs gave out, and he dropped to his knees in front of the great creature. Or perhaps he had been forced to his knees.

"I... I don't want to die..." Alex stammered meekly. He did not care that there was no one left for him. He was simply doing as he was told when he had killed them. He had done anything and everything to stay alive.

_you are a selfish little creature_

_all of this death and destruction you caused_

_the insanity you faced_

_the risks you took_

_all to keep yourself going_

_you're pathetic_

There was silence for a while. Then Alex stood up shakily.

"I've s-seen what you can do... you can manipulate t-time and space. I... I realize the d-deal we made. I just..." Alex trailed off for a moment and seemed unsure if he wanted to say more. "I just want to... to see my mother again. Take... take me back to the day b-before she was k-killed..."

There was a long silence. Alex was somewhat surprised at his own request, and the creature was as well, although he did not show it.

_i can do this_

_but in return we must make another deal_

_you can not alter the future_

_you can not prevent yourself from your own death_

Alex nodded, still shaking. Suddenly, the dark forest surrounding him gave way to shops, cars, cement, and the bright sun.

Alex stepped out of the alley he was in and looked around. The town was smaller than the last time he had seen it, which was nineteen years in the future. He knew exactly where to go to find his house, even after being away from it for years.

He started walking on wobbling legs. No one was out; it was too hot for anyone to be walking around. Cars passed, ignoring the brunette trekking along on the sidewalk.

After ten minutes of walking, Alex found his old house. His feet were hurting but he could barely feel it. He was running on pure adrenaline now.

A young boy was walking around outside. He was pointing a camera at the grass. Alex couldn't help but smile. He longed for the days when he was still innocent, when he had nothing to fear, when his mother was still alive...

"Hey kid, what'cha got there?" he asked, walking over to his younger self.

"It's a camera!" the little boy exclaimed happily. Alex gave a weak smile.

"One day I'm going to make movies like on TV, then peoples will watch it! And I'll be famous!" the little boy claimed, beaming.

Alex opened his mouth, wanting to warn the child against his plans. Then he noticed something tall, black, white, and red in the corner of his eye. He continued smiling.

"...That's very nice. You... you go do that, kid," Alex reassured him. He stopped smiling, because he couldn't keep up his façade. He still tried to look happy for the little boy.

The boy nodded. "You'll come watch my movie, right, mister?" he asked seriously.

"Of course," Alex responded, "Hey, uh, is your mom around?"

The little Alex nodded. "Mommy! Someone wants to talk to you!" he yelled, running to go and get his mom.

Alex waited for a little while until the seven year old came out, holding his mom's hand and almost pulling her down the stairs. Alex let out a little quiet noise of joy to see his mother. The last time he had seen her was when he had seen Totheark's video, and it hadn't exactly been a very good video of her.

His mother came up to him. He was taller than her now, only by a few inches. He had the sudden urge to hug her like he had done when he was younger.

"Hello," he said somewhat awkwardly. "I'm, uh, Alex. I, um, wanted to talk to you for a second."

"I'm Judie, nice to meet you. I'm sorry if my son bothered you," she responded, patting the younger Alex's head. "His name is Alex, too. You two look very similar."

Alex smiled. "I guess there is a bit of a resemblance, isn't there? Listen, I uh, just wanted to say..." he trailed off, realizing he had no idea what to say.

The creature appeared in the trees behind the house. Despite having no features, Alex could tell that it wanted him to go back. He would have to hurry.

"...just, uh, be careful tomorrow, okay? There's, uh, supposed to be a lot of traffic for the festival, and you could get hurt trying to cross the road or something," Alex paused, finding the words hard to get out. He could still remember the day she died as if it had been yesterday. A truck coming in from one of the local farms to set up for the market at the festival had hit her as she was crossing the road. He and his dad had already crossed and watched, horrified, as the speeding truck struck her down.

_And I killed my father_, Alex thought. But he felt no regret about that. He had been an awful father anyways, and he had to do as he was asked to stay alive.

"I have to go now," he finished, glancing at the forest, "So just, uh, keep watch for any, um, trucks or anything."

He did not hear Judie's response, for he was already dashing off to where the tall faceless man had disappeared into the forest. He chased the little noises of the rustling of leaves, unable to see the monster because of the speed of it's movements. Eventually, he came back to where he had started out, although it was less dark and overgrown. Then it shifted back to the state it was in the present.

_there are no more delays now_

_i hope that you have made your amends to whatever god you worship_

_because you can only hope that you will not burn eternally for your selfishness_

_it was fun, alex kralie._

"I don't want to die," Alex responded. There was a mix of terror, pleading, and acceptance in his voice.

He knew the creature was behind him, ready to kill him any second. Time seemed to stretch as he waited for death. It seemed as though the monster was hesitating, and Alex was about to ask why, but then excruciating pain shot through him.

He instantly fell to the ground, and blood poured onto the leaves. He only had a few seconds of life left in him now. A black tentacle, turned red with his blood, was all he could focus on. His eyesight grew blurry, and his mind went fuzzy. He could not understand why there was warm red liquid surrounding him, or why there was a hole in his stomach. The remains of his torn intestines had fallen out of the hole as he had fallen. Everything went black after those few seemingly long seconds.

The tall, featureless, suited man now had tentacles flailing on his back. They were all black except one. One was covered in blood, the blood of a servant. It sliced itself neatly in half, cutting off any part of it with blood. Black liquid like oil seeped out of the red half, spilling onto the forest floor and mixing with Alex's blood. The creature was soon gone, disappearing into the forest.

The bodies of all those who had been killed by Alex were suddenly hanging from nooses on the surrounding trees, creating a circle around the dead body of Alex Kralie.

A young man wearing a hat and another with black hair and sideburns hung directly above Alex, still bleeding from the bullet holes in their chests despite having been dead for two weeks. Their blood dripped onto Alex, mixing with his blood.

Three weeks later they would be found by hikers and they would become a legend among the people of the town surrounding Rosswood Park.

Scientists and detectives would boggle over the fresh bodies, even though their deaths had been confirmed as early as two years before they were found. Alex Kralie would be found as the killer and it was assumed he had taken his own life. The odd tentacle found with his body was still a mystery left unsolved. It would cause many supposed monster hunters looking for the strange beast to come to the small town, none of which came out alive.


End file.
